I did not recognise the name of this band when it came into my emails, but the cover art fascinated me, so I started reading the press release and when I saw the name Mutt Lange, I did a doubletake, as he has been retired for quite some time. What could possess him to dip his toes back into the water (has he not seen the John Wick movies?). What we have here is a project led by Tommy Henriksen (guitarist and musical director for Alice Cooper’s band and member of Hollywood Vampires). To make this album a reality he brought in a huge cast including guitarist Tommy Denander, keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac (My Chemical Romance, John Mayer, Seal), bassist Chris Wyse (Hollywood Vampires, Ace Frehley, The Cult, Ozzy Osbourne), drummer Glen Sobel (Alice Cooper, Hollywood Vampires), the late UFO bassist Pete Way, mixer Olle Romo (Muse, Bryan Adams) and producer/mixer Mike Plotnikoff (AC/DC, Aerosmith). If that was not enough, there are also guest features and spoken word appearances by A-list actor/musician and fellow Hollywood Vampires bandmate Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper, Phil Collen (Def Leppard), Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe), Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Kane Roberts, and more.

The end result is something which has Lange written all over it, as he has taken the material and moved it to the next level as Crossbone Skully sound just what one would expect if ‘Back In Black’ era AC/DC met with ‘Hysteria’ era Def Leppard and had a child. It has the rough rawness from the former, combined with some of the commerciality of the second so the only way listen to this is by smiling all the way through as this is a blast from beginning to end. The songs are packed full of hooks and feel as if they have come at us straight from the Eighties when both those bands were at their commercial peak, and if this had been released during that time, I know Crossbone Skully would be a household name and packing arenas. For anyone into the melodic rock style so favoured of Mutt Lange, then here is an album which delivers in spades, every time. There is now a live band behind this, so it will be interesting to see what happens next as this deserves to be much more than just a one-off.

Rating: 9/10

Links:
https://crossboneskully.com/
https://betternoise.com/